Waltzin' Matilda

[Bullethead 12]

If you've never had the "pleasure" of flying the DH5 in OFF, I can sum it up as follows. It's just like the "Matilda" Mk II tank of early WW2: slow, unmaneuverable, and weakly armed, but tough as Hell. I kinda like that, as a result of the same perverse, masochistic tendencies that lead me to force-land repeatedly in within the bounds of the convent of the Flagellant Sisters of St. Jezebel of Lesbos.

 

So, I'm officially now working on a DH5 skin that is inspired by the tan/light blue/dark green camo, with white-red-white anti-Austrian stripes, made famous by the Matildas in the Battle of France (see attached pic). If anybody does such a skin skin before me, I'll have your entrails for guitar strings. Ye be warned.

[Rickitycrate 10]

Have at 'er BH. Do 'er right and then share her for downloading. Oh, and have a brew

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Can't wait to see it BH. I am growing quite fond of the DH5 myself.

 

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[Olham 164]

Must be the same with me and the later Albatros. She is surely not the obvious German fighter

to pick for a classic turn-dogfighting, she is heavy, but also rugged and stabile - and because

she isn't the obvious one everybody liked to dance with, I gave her second looks, until I loved her.

[Bullethead 12]

I am growing quite fond of the DH5 myself.

 

I took the DH5 up the 1st time and absolutely hated it. It flew like a 3-legged hippo stoned on ether, so that I couldn't even hit the broadside of a balloon except by flying into it. When the collision damage made me roll over and crash on landing and the screen went black, I was thankful, thinking that was the end of that pilot and I'd never have to fly the DH5 again. But I walked away without a scratch.

 

"Oh well", I thought, "this plane is such a dog, and has such a dangerous job, that I'll surely die next time." And in fact my entire squadron, 13 DH5s of both flights AND 5 escorting Strutters, were all destroyed in about 5 minutes by a mere 3 Albatri (one of which forcelanded due to Archie). Most of the DH5s crashed from sheer inability to fly in the severe gusts we had that day. I only just avoided this fate, straightening out at the last second to make a good landing in a field, where I sat and watched the carnage. When there were no planes left flying in the area, I took off and tried to strafe the downed Hun, who was sitting on the other side of the same field I was in. However, the same wobbliness as before led to the same results: I couldn't shoot him but I did hit the ground just short of him where I lost my landing gear, then left a wing on one of those tall stumps right beside him, and finally careened right into the Albatros. Black screen. "YAHOO, I'M DEAD!!" I thought. Wrong. When I came to, I was back at the my airfield on the roster for the next mission.

 

And so it's been ever since. I've now been forced down by DFW tailgunners twice due to ignoring their fire while I tried to shoot back, in hopes of being set on fire or shot in the face. No such luck, and I even managed to bag one of these 2-seaters. The weather had cleared and the air was far less bumpy, so I was able to hold the DH5 steady enough to hit something. Sadly, being shot to pieces doesn't make the DH5 fly any worse, so I've had no trouble landing safely.

 

So, I've come to have a grudging admiration for the DH5's toughness, and I admit that I now almost look forward to flying it just to see what terrible crash I can walk away from next. But I still hate flying it.

 

The best that can be said of the DH5's flying characteristics is that on a sunny day with only a few weak gusts, it doesn't try to kill you just flying along straight and level. On such days, it's just a pathetically slow and unmaneuverable pig--the Fee has better performance in both areas, by far. Still, due to the lack of wobbles, you might actually have a chance to kill something on such days. But on a cloudy with lots of strong gusts, the DH5 is practically unflyable. Its usual reaction to a strong gust is to go sharply nose down while rolling hard left and losing power. As such, just staying in the air in level flight is a major challenge, and is futile if the gusts are too frequent. If you go up on such a day (and you'll know it pretty quick), your best bet is to land immediately. ACM is of course out of the question on such days, and attempting it will wipe your whole squadron out in a few minutes.